The company announced plans to build a new nuclear power station of up to 3.6GW capacity adjacent to the Sellafield complex in North West England. In October 2009, it purchased an option to acquire land around Sellafield from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority for £70m. The company will make a final investment decision in 2015 with a view to starting production in 2023.[1] NuGen is evaluating building either two Areva 1,650 MWe EPR or three Westinghouse 1,100 MWe AP1000 reactors.[2]

In September 2011, SSE announced that it was leaving the consortium, with GDF Suez and Iberdrola buying SSE out to increase their stakes to 50% each.[3]

In December 2013, Toshiba, through its Westinghouse subsidiary, agreed to pay £85 million for Iberdrola's 50% share of NuGen.[4] Toshiba also intends to purchase part of GDF's stake, giving it 60% ownership.[5] The change in ownership will cause the chosen new build reactor to the Westinghouse 1,100 MWe AP1000,[6] with a target first operation date of 2024.[5]

In June 2014, Toshiba and GDF Suez announced plans for three AP1000s at Moorside at a cost of at least £10 billion. The build is planned to start in 2020, with a target of having the first reactor operating in 2024. Sandy Rupprecht, who had headed development of the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor, will be the new chief executive of NuGen.[7] The final investment decision will probably be made in 2018.[8]